Shadow of the Past Part 1
by G-Shadowblade
Summary: Kurt Amanda fic. A rogue military officer tries to get Kurt from the institute by force, but if that fails what else will he try. Review if you want the continuation. First X-men evo fic I've written.
1. The New Threat

Disclaimer: I do not own x-men evolution etc.
    
    * * *

I stepped up to the general's door and knocked. _I was sure this new information would interest him. It always did._

"Enter" I heard his voice echo out through the panelled wooded door. 

__

A luxury in the middle of the desert, high quality oak. I mused. _The unusual thing about the general, he indulges in something like this and yet when you step into his office it is furnished purely for practicality. It keeps people on their toes._

After entering and closing the door behind me I saluted and speaking firmly said, "Sir, we have picked up possible mutant activity in a small village in rural Germany."

"Detail's" he replied.

"There have been a number of sighting's in the last ten years. Unconfirmed reports of a 'blue demon' in and around the location. We believe it may also be linked with an acrobat in a travelling circus, which visits the area. The description matches, however he his far from a permanent member and as such hard to lock down."

"I want evidence not speculation" 

"Yes, sir " _He knew what I had been expecting when I gave him this information, he could tell. He kept everyone on their toes, its what made him so talented. _

"Where is he now?"

"We think we have tracked his movements to a town, here in the States. It is called Bayville."

"Again merely speculation, I want evidence and I want a name. Is that clear"

"Yes, sir" _He always required the most out of all his officers, it didn't matter there rank, as long as they were under his command he demanded the best, I reminded myself. _

"Colonel, how long have you been under my command"

"Six years sir. I transferred here from special projects at area 51." _A strange day when that happened, I was already working at a classified government installation and I received a message ordering me moved unofficially to a facility, that even the president has no knowledge of. _

"I requested your transfer, colonel, your skills were being squandered, by those fools. I felt you could be put too much better use to me here. Do not make me regret that decision. Next time I speak with you I expect to see results. You know what happened to the man you replaced." 

"Yes sir." _He made the mistake of underestimating the general and his expectations. I discovered he is now in charge of sanitation in an Alaskan radar outpost. _

Amazing man I though to myself again, as I left. _A tactical genius, but he can read people as well. I knew only a fraction of what he was doing here, but that still filled me with awe. It was a testament to his ability that he was able to fund and run a project like this without the knowledge of most of the American government. _

* * *

__

Can't wait to see Amanda again I thought as I wondered in through he school doors behind Scott. _But will she have changed her mind. Spending an evening wondering through the town with a fuzzy elf, she said she liked me then, but now. Ach, I know it, she'll hate me today. She'll avoid me, even run away. What if she calls me a freak? No, no what am I going to do. _

"Hey Kurt, what's eating you, you look really tense," said Evan, clapping me on the shoulder. "Last night you were practically dancing when you arrived back at the institute. Don't know what you got out of Amanda but it must have been good." 

"It was only a couple of kisses, nothing more" I replied. _Although it was a good night. Her skin felt so good against my fur_

"More than I got, Stephanie went running out the hall when those monsters appeared, haven't seen her since. Then while we're cleaning up the mess, you disappear with Amanda and have a great time. Professor didn't even have a go at you when you get back at two in the morning. Some people get all the luck."

__

Relax Kurt I told myself. _There is not reason to think she won't still like you. _Ignoring Evan.

"Piece of advice Kurt," I heard Jean's voice in my head _"You spend a night out with a girl, you enjoy it. It's probably a good idea NOT to ignore her, the following morning when she waves at you from her locker."_

My head snapped up and I looked over my shoulder and saw Amanda standing there smiling. _Man she looked nice. Beautiful long hair, sexy... No don't think that, you don't want her to think that's all your after._

"Hi Amanda," I said rather nervously. "Enjoy the dance."

"The dance was boring, but afterwards, well," she smiled at me. _I like that smile. "_Kurt are you O.K. You look really tense. Not worried about what I think of you by any chance."

"Was, nein liebchen, of course not"

"You are I can tell, you start babbling in German when your nervous. If you're worried I might have changed my mind, this should allay your fears." Then she kissed me. _Wow she was good at that._ I was so surprised, I didn't think to respond. She pulled back then and looked at me worried. "You don't mind do you" she said.

"Unexpected, not unwanted." I said. She ran here finger down my cheek and kissed me again, sliding her tongue across my fangs. Ignoring the cries of "Get a room," from passing students I made no attempt to stop it. Then the bell rang, ruining the moment. 

"Ach nein, Maths now" _what a way to ruin a perfectly good moment _I thought. 

"My poor elf doesn't like trigonometry does he" she whispered in my ear. "I wonder if I can make the lesson a bit more interesting."

"I'm sure you can liebchen," kissing her twice on the neck.

She ran her fingers through the fur on the back of my neck, making me purr. "I love it when you do that, you sound so cute," she said. I put my arm round her shoulder and walked down the corridor towards class. _She still likes me. SHE STILL LIKES ME. _I felt like jumping in joy.

* * *

__

I hate trigonometry, what a stupid waste of time. I could be doing much better things. I looked over at Kurt, _the hologram made him look nice, but he looks better in fur. I never thought I'd be thinking that about anyone. Yet it doesn't bother me._

"Miss. Sefton. You have done no work for the last ten minutes, do you have something to share with the class" 

"No, sir, nothing." I heard some scattered giggling from round the class.

"Continue with your work then."

I looked over at Kurt again _He is so cute. _I looked up to check Mr. Blain was looking at his desk, then I reached over next to Kurt. I ran my finger down his back, until I felt his tail and gently slid my fingers along it around his back. I heard him start purring gently.

"You know it's hard to concentrate on trig, when you're not doing that, although when you do, mummmm, it does make the lesson more interesting, " said Kurt. 

"Mr. Wagner, Miss. Sefton, I will not tell you again, please continue with your work or you will explain yourself to Principal Kelly. 

Sighing I returned to work _It was going to be a long day._

*

"Amanda," I heard Kurt say as he walked up behind me and snuggled into my neck, planting a few kisses as he did so."

"Can't bear to be away from me can you fuzzy?" I replied turning round and kissing his passionately on the lips.

"That, but also we need to talk."

"About what?" _What could he want to say? No conversation started well with 'we need to talk.' He wasn't breaking up with me was he, I didn't want to lose someone as kind as him, only just after we met._ I must have looked concerned as he said.

"Relax, it's not bad news. It's about the institute. Remember the night after the dance, I told you about mutants."

"Vaguely, I was more interested in other things at the time."

Kurt started purring "As was I. But what I didn't tell you was that I'm not the only mutant in Bayville. In fact everyone at the institute are mutants." 

"An institute for 'gifted youngsters' Kurt. So Scott, Jean, Kitty and the others are all mutants." I smiled. _Life in Bayville is certainly not boring._

"You're amazing, you know that liebchen. Almost anyone else, would be terrified by the idea you accept it with a smile."

"Well maybe you haven't met many decent people. Why could anyone hate you Kurt? What's to hate?" _I believe that as well. I really don't see anything in him that scares me. Even when I first saw him I didn't feel fear, shock perhaps but not fear. _

"I knew there was a reason I liked you liebchen."

"So do I get to see this institute, or is it forbidden to non-mutants."

"Not at all, I was going to ask if you wanted to visit. This is what I mean Amanda, how many people would willing walk into a mansion filled with mutants, if they knew what they were getting in to."

"I can't come for a couple of days, I've got relatives visiting and have to be around to 'entertain,' but they leave in three days, I can come and visit then."

"Great, I'd love to show you around.

* * *

"Colonel, what is your progress?" I heard the general say as he walked up to stand beside me.

"Sir, I was about to make a report. Our German contact has met with the circus I spoke of before, however those members questions were unwilling to disclose any information concerning subject 113. I ordered him to carry out routine interrogation, and we were able to get a name, Kurt Wagner."

"Was interrogation the best option colonel, you could have moved in one of our telepathic subjects."

"I did not feel, it was necessary. The time it would take to deploy such a mutant, would make it an unnecessary waste of time and provide an unacceptable risk of detection, for a situation that did not call for it. Our contact was more than capable of getting the information required."

"I do not agree, colonel. These small communities often have great loyalty, and have obviously hidden this mutant for many years. They may not have disclosed all the information they possess."

__

He did this often, always testing, always questioning, always forcing you to justify every decision. You learned never to make a rash decision when you worked for him, or you very quickly left his employment. "Sir the information we received did allow us to track the movements of an individual of the same name."

"I am assuming these movements, led to Bayville."

"Yes sir, to a facility called 'The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters.' We also have his records, which show he attends Bayville High School and has made periodic return trips to this area in Germany."

I pressed a button on the control panel and a revolving holographic image of a sixteen-year-old boy appeared on the disc in the centre of the console in front of me. "This is the image that we have from his file. As you can see, an unremarkable teenage boy. His indigo hair colouring is unusual, but not basis to deem him a mutant, obviously."

I pressed a second button and another image appeared, next to the first. This one was quite obviously a mutant. It again showed an image of a teenage boy, however this one was covered in a thin layer of blue fur, had pointed ears, completely yellow eyes, three fingered hands, hoofs and a tail. "This image is a reconstruction based on descriptions, we extracted from the interrogated subjects. We believe this to be an accurate depiction of the mutant with a 23% error margin."

"A slight discrepancy in appearance colonel, how can you claim these are the same person."

"While it is not immediately obvious sir, if you look closely there are certain similarities. The hair colour is the most basic, but more importantly, notice the way the 'normal' image holds his hands. The pairs of fingers are not the natural posture for a human hand. While there is a genetic condition that could lead to the same appearance, we feel that it is more likely, given the other evidence that he does in fact only have three fingers. As to how he hides the rest of his appearance we don't have an answer to that yet sir."

"Good work colonel and as too your query about how he hides his appearance I think the answer is in front of you."

"Sir?"

"Holograms colonel, the image in front of you is an example of the technology. It would seem Mr. Wagner has acquired some form of holographic projector." 

"But how sir. The technology is state of the art; we have only been using it for a little under a year. It will not become available to even the military for another three."

"Only one of the questions I will be asking Mr. Wagner when he is brought in colonel."

"Brought in sir? We have not had any time for surveillance, or preparation. He is in such a public area; his disappearance will not go unnoticed. Can we afford to draw that amount of attention."

"I have other interests in this mutant colonel, take what resources you require, but bring in that mutant. You have one week. Also why you are doing this send a telepath to Germany to acquire an accurate description of the mutant and wipe the memories of the interrogated subjects, leave no loose ends. Get as much information in the time as possible, but I want that mutant here within the week."

"Sir, could you explain why you have such an interest in this one mutant, or why you feel such resources should be expended to acquire him."

"In time. All things will become clear, colonel. In time."

* * *

It was getting dark when I arrived at the gates to the institute, so I quickly stepped up to them. _So here it is the gates of the institute_._ You would never think that inside was a haven for mutants._ I pressed the button on the gate for the intercom, and after a few seconds a women's voice answered. "Who is it?"

"It's Amanda, I' m here to see Kurt."

"Ah, yes of course we're expecting you. Please come in." There was a buzz and the wrought iron gates swung open. I stepped through and was about to walk along the path to the mansion, when; 'BAMF!' and Kurt appeared in front of me.

"Liebchen, you're here. Please let me show you around."

It was then that what appeared to be a meteor shot across the lawn in front me one way and was met by a blast of ice from the other. _What was that? _"Um, Kurt, you didn't say anything about having to run a gauntlet to get into the mansion."

"Don't worry that's just the students, I'll introduce you later. They can get a little over excited at times. Let me take you on a tour, elf express"

He took my hand and BAMF! As the smell of brimstone faded, I got my bearings and realised we were standing in the entrance hall to the mansion. _How much money does this professor have? This place is huge. _

"Amanda," I heard Kurt say "This is Professor Xavier." I turned by eyes in the direction he was pointing and saw a man in a wheelchair come up to me.

"Welcome Amanda, to my school for mutants. I understand Kurt has already told most of what there is to know about us. However before we continue I would like to have a private word with you."

"O.K, about what? I asked"

"Just a few minor details I'd like to discuss. Kurt would you give us a minute please."

"I'll be back shortly Amanda," Kurt said and BAMFED away again.

"Now Amanda, I am sure I don't need to tell you how important it is that the existence of this school and nature of the members be kept secret. There is another matter, and that is about your opinion of mutants. Kurt tells me that it doesn't bother you, but I'd like to hear it from you."

"Like I told Kurt, I'm intrigued more than scared, and if your worried about what I think of Kurt, I honestly believe that there is nothing that anyone should be scared of. He's a kind hearted, gentle person." I felt a tickling inside my mind at that point, like an itch inside my mind I couldn't reach. _What is that?_

"You felt that. Interesting. Different people, have different reactions to telepathy in my experience. Some are oblivious to its effects, some can feel when its happening, and others can actively block it."

"You mean, you were just inside my mind. _That felt really weird."_

"It is not something I normally do, I am sorry Amanda, but with what is at stake by showing you this mansion, I hope you will understand. I will not do it again without asking you. Now I believe that you have a tour scheduled, so I will take my leave."

I watched the professor. _I wonder what I'm meant to do now. _BAMF! 

"Liebchen, I got this for you, " Kurt said as he appeared behind me. I turned and saw him standing there with a silver necklace in his hands.

"Kurt, it's beautiful. I don't have anything for you." I put it around my neck, and smiled at Kurt. "I'll just have to repay you later." I kissed him and was enjoying myself until we broke apart and I saw a man standing in the corner, glaring at me. _Relax he probably just one of the teachers, but he looks a bit too dangerous to be a teacher._ Kurt looked over his shoulder to see what I was looking at.

"Relax, that's just Logan, he's the comedian of our group."

"Yeah, comedian, funny ha ha. Make sure you keep it G rated elf." He turned and left the room.

"Kurt, you owe me a tour, so show me around." I said to try to break the tension.

* * *

__

What a night, this had been great. She'd met everyone; she'd liked them. It'd been a bit tense at first but they soon relaxed. Even Kitty, eventually. Afterwards had been fun as well.

I stood outside with my arm around Amanda on the edge of the woods, which surrounded the institute grounds, enjoying her smell and presence. A perfect moment.

__

"Kurt, may I have a word with you," I heard the professor's voice in my head._ So much for the perfect moment. _

"Amanda, the professor want's to talk to me I'll be back in a moment. BAMF!

"Professor this had better be good." _Why now, couldn't it wait?_

"Kurt we just lost all the security systems around the edges of the mansion, it's probably nothing, but could you please bring Amanda in."

"Alright." BAMF!

I looked around the area I was just standing at a moment before but couldn't see Amanda. I walked over the edge of the forest and called "Amanda." _I wonder where she's got to. _I felt a pain in the back of my neck, and reached up to touch it. Suddenly, my legs started to feel heavy my vision blurred. The last thing I saw was Amanda running towards me from one direction and Logan appearing out of the shadows from the other, before everything went black.

__

* * *

The general was not going to be pleased. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door to his office.

"Enter," commanded the general and I stepped into his office, saluting as I did so. 

"Sir we have received the report concerning the attempt to capture subject 113, the mutant Kurt Wagner."

"It has failed."

"Yes sir, only one man returned, a member of the strike team. However he took serious injuries, which appear to be in the form of three bladed claws. He is in a critical, but stable condition in the infirmary. He was however able to give us a report detailing what happened, and combined with the surveillance we have since carried out of the institute I have been able to piece together what happened."

"Your report then colonel."

"The team followed the orders and were tracking the target, they were able to isolate him late last night on the edge of the institute grounds and all went well, until they tried to acquire him. They disabled the security around the mansion, it was noted that it was more heavily defended than expected but this was put down to the owner being overprotective."

"They stunned the target without incident" I continued "and were about to remove him when they were attacked. It is here that the report becomes sketchy sir. According to the survivor the team was taken by surprise, and lost three members immediately. The survivor claimed that the wounds he received was from the same person, who he described as having and I quote 'metal claws coming out of his fists.' If the report is accurate then I can only assume that this man is also a mutant. The survivor also stated that this man took a number of bullets and the wounds quickly healed, suggesting some form of regenerative ability."

"So he is there."

"You know this mutant sir?"

"I know of him. He was part of a project called Weapon X. Please colonel continue."

"That's it sir, apparently a number of other mutants soon joined the fight, and the men used there cyanide rather than risk capture. Our survivor was able to slip away in the confusion and was picked up shortly after. I underestimated the resistance we would face attempting to capture this mutant sir." _Those were fifteen of our best men; I don't like to think what could have done that to them._

"We still need to acquire this mutant colonel."

"Is that wise sir. They will be on their guard now; a second attempt would risk exposing us."

"We rushed this colonel, that is why it failed. On another note colonel you have done excellent work on this project and I think it is time you were given the full explanation as to why I want this mutant. Please come with me."

The general stood up and walked past me to the door. _What is he talking about? _Feeling rather confused I turned and followed the general out of his office. _Where are we going? _We stepped into an elevator at the end of the corridor and the general pressed the button for sub-level 22. _That's lower than I'm classified to go, no one knows what's on the lower levels except those with highest clearance._ The elevator doors opened and I followed the general out into another corridor exactly like the one we just left. The corridors on this level were like a maze. _This facility is bigger than I had ever thought, what is down here._

The general led me through a pair of double doors and into a conference room where he gestured for me to take a seat. "Colonel, I have brought you down here because this area of the base is sealed off from the rest of the world the files stored here are accessible only from one of the terminals on the lower levels."

"Sir, what is there down here you want me to know about?"

"Colonel, you transferred here six years ago and as such you have little knowledge of what took place before that time. Therefore it my surprise you to discover that this is not the original facility, for my project, although it is an almost exact replica of that base. 

__

That didn't make any sense, this facility had cost hundreds of billions of dollars to construct, why would it have been moved.

"You see colonel this project has been going on for just over 20 years, and for most of that time I have been running it. One of out earliest subjects we acquired also turned out to be the most talented. He very quickly became the best assassin and acquisition agent we have ever produced and his abilities made him particularly suitable for the role. All went well at first and he had a perfect record, however then there was an incident about seven years ago. We had picked up reports of a mutant in rural Germany, the same mutant I believe we are trying to acquire now, sent in this person to collect him."

__

The same mutant as now I thought to myself _Then why are we still after him seven years later. What went wrong?_

"We don't now what happened, but we lost contact with our agent. We sent in two teams to try and discover the cause and they too vanished. Two weeks later, the assassin turned up at the facility and went straight to the centre."

Suddenly I knew where this was going. _This facility has a nuclear device built into the heart of it, capable of destroying the facility in case of an emergency. _

"The nuclear device was set off, and while we were given enough warning to get most our men out, the facility was completely destroyed. It took us a while to recover from that, but in the confusion we were able to re-acquire our agent. We were unable to find our what happened from him, so we could not risk deploying him again. However we had spent too much money on his training to just kill him, so we put him in stasis, until the answer could be found."

"I take it sir, that you believe the answer lies with this mutant we detected."

"Yes, he must be acquired. Like you said though a direct attack is probably not the best option so we will have to try something subtler. We must drive him away from the protection of the institute. There are some mutants we have here that you do not know about colonel." I saw the general press a button on the console he was standing next to and he said, "Please send Landmine in."

"What is his ability sir?"

"You will see colonel, have patience. Until then is there not another question on your mind?"

"Yes sir, you said you believed that this Kurt Wagner is somehow linked with the actions of your assassin. Yet he would only have been nine years old at the time, why do you think he was even involved?"

"Follow me colonel and you will see." He turned and exited the conference room through yet another door. _What was he going to show me now?_

* * *

__

It's been a couple of days since the attack, but I'm still jumping at shadows. Why would anyone send in a team that size just to get me? 

The bell rang for the end of the day, and I left the classroom. I walked across the school slowly, and turned the corner into the corridor where I said I would meet Amanda. The corridor was deserted of everyone except Amanda, who was facing away from me. I stepped up to her and put my hand on her shoulder. "Amanda I've been looking for you, where were you yesterday" 

She spun around and knocked my hand away and she did, she said, "Get your hand off me"

"Amanda, what are you doing?"

"What I should have done when I first saw you Kurt. I was fooled at first, but I realise now what you are. You're a freak."

I felt a stabbing pain in my gut. _NO! She called me a freak. Why her? Why now?_

"Amanda why are you doing this? I thought you…."

"Thought what Kurt, that I liked you, that I enjoyed being around you. Never! 

"B-b-but, you said,"

"It doesn't matter what I said, only what I'm saying now. I don't what you near me again. I don't want to see your freaky face again."

I felt a tear run down my face, and I looked into her eyes. _Please let there be some compassion there, anything. _All I saw was a cold, hard, condemning look.

"You should do your friends at the institute a favour Kurt and leave, before you cause them any more trouble. If anyone lets their secret out it's going to be you." With that I saw her turn and walk off down the corridor. 

The only thought running through my head was _What if she's right._


	2. Another Touched

Author's Note: Sorry it's only a short chapter. School started, so there's less chance to write. I will probably extend this story in smaller chapters like this rather from now on rather than the bigger section I started with. Hopefully it'll mean it gets updated more often. Read, enjoy, and review.

Disclaimer: I do not own X-men evolution etc.

* * *

I lay there on my bed, staring at the ceiling, lost in my own misery. _Why did she do it? Was it something I did?_ _What could I have done? Had she just had enough of me? _The thoughts kept repeating themselves in my head over and over, and I just sat there staring, wishing it had never happened. 

I pounded the pillow I was lying on a few times to try and vent my frustration repeating "Why, why, why?" with each hit. I collapsed again my arm aching. I couldn't even be angry with Amanda, I didn't know why. I didn't feel angry, even if I tried to be; I only felt shock and disbelief. 

"Kurt are you O.K" I heard Kitty's voice from the other side of the door, she rattled the doorknob and discovered as had Scott, Jean and Evan before her that the door was locked. "You didn't come down for dinner, and your door's locked, something is wrong. I'm coming in." 

I dropped onto my bed and pretended to be asleep, I didn't want to talk to anyone. I waited until I was sure Kitty had retreated back through the door, and sat up again. My stomach growled loudly, desperate for food. _Great I can't even hide in peace, without having to find food. Stupid fast metabolism. _I focused on the kitchen. 

BAMF! A familiar sent of sulphur and brimstone filled the air and I was standing in front of the larder in the kitchen. I reached out to open the door but overheard the others talking through the kitchen door behind me and stopped to listen. 

"Anyone know what's up with Kurt, he hasn't come out of his room all evening," Kitty said.

"You couldn't brush across his mind could you Jean, find out what's going on," Evan asked. 

"I'm already in trouble with the professor for doing that, I'm not going to risk it again," Jean replied. 

"Oh."

"On the other hand, he was practically broadcasting his thoughts when he was lying in his bedroom, so I couldn't help but overhear," Jean said. 

"Alright then, what's wrong," repeated Scott. 

"It's something to do with Amanda, all I got from him was a bundle of emotions and scattered thoughts, but I think…."

__

I can't here this again. BAMF! I sat down on the edge of my bed and stared at the wall. _Why did this have to happen? Everything was going so well. The night after the dance when she looked at me and didn't run screaming, it was one of the best moments of my life. Now this._

"Kurt, I want to talk to you." It was Scott, he banged on the door a few times but I ignored it. "Kurt I know you can hear me I heard you muttering." 

"Scott, go away I don't want to talk."

"Kurt, we are going to talk, even if I have to blast the door down. Now, open it."

"O.K, O.K." _I don't want to talk to you, why won't you just leave me alone. _I opened the door and saw Scott standing there looking firmly at me. 

"You look terrible Kurt, even with your inducer on." I hadn't turned it off since school finished. "I know what happened Kurt and I'm sorry it happened. Amanda…." He trailed off.

"What?" I replied sharply.

Scott looked up at me with a strange look in his eyes, a look I had seen before. The same look I had seen in Amanda's eyes, before she voiced my worse fears. "She was right Kurt, you are a freak. The rest of here, at least we fit in. You can't even go outside without hiding every moment. You will never be accepted!" He turned to leave and took a step towards the door before turning back and saying, "She was right about something else. If anyone is going to give us away it'll be you. You should leave before you cause us any more trouble."

Once again I just stood their shocked. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. However there was a voice in the back of my head saying. _There have been a lot of close calls. What if he's right?_


	3. Suspicions

Summary: The following day in school.

This chapter is a bit longer than the last, so I hope you enjoy. Please review, I didn't get any comments about the last chapter. If that keeps happening I probably won't finish it. 

* * *

__

School lunches, one of the great mysteries of the universe. How do they manage to make them taste so terrible? Do people try to cook them badly? I picked up one of the pieces of recycled garbage they claimed were chips and bit into it. _Lovely, what would I do without them? _I sighed, _What a week its been. First someone tries to kidnap Kurt, and then I'm ill for two days afterwards. I hope he's all right, I haven't been able to talk to him since. _

I picked up another chip, looked up from the table where I was sitting and gazed around. _I hadn't talked Kurt since I got back today. I've seen glimpses of him around the school, but every time I go after him he vanishes, it almost like he's avoiding me. _"What is going on?" I muttered to myself_._

I looked over at the entrance, and saw Kurt step out, flanked by Kitty and Evan. His gaze swept across the courtyard and settled on me. I was close enough to see him flinch, turn and walk back through the doorway. _I have to talk to him. _I stood up and turned towards the door, only to get very dark looks from Evan and Kitty. _What happened while I was away? Why is Kurt avoiding me and everyone else from the mansion giving me looks that say we're not letting you near him? _

I walked off in the other direction, muttering to myself, under my breath "I have to find out what happened. But how?" _There's only one thing to do. I'm going to have to ask someone from the institute. _Looking over my shoulder I saw the group sitting around one of the tables, Jean and Scott, facing Kitty and Evan. I took in a deep breath. _Why am I nervous? I didn't do anything. _Yet in spite of that I felt wrong for some reason, as though I had done something terrible, and shouldn't be talking to them. I pushed the feeling aside. _You haven't done anything Amanda._

I marched up to the table where they were sitting, and faltered under the gaze of four very angry looking mutants. 

"What do you want?" Growled Scott. 

__

For the first time I don't feel entirely safe around a round them. I felt a twinge of fear in the corner of my mind, but shoved it aside. "I won't to know what happened while I was away, " I replied, my voice betraying by unease. 

"What happened, while you were away? Is this some sort of sick joke? If it is it's not funny," Jean said in disgust." 

"Yeah, we all know what you did to Kurt, and after he trusted you," said Evan.

"What do you mean, what I did to Kurt_. _I haven't seen him for two days." _What could have happened to Kurt?_

"All right we'll play along with your little game. If you really want to gloat then hear it. Yesterday you walked up to Kurt, called him a freak to his face, told him you never wanted to be near him again and that he should get out of the mansion." Jean said this all very rapidly, nut I could hear the suppressed anger in her voice. "There's no point denying it I flicked over Kurt's mind, I know what he saw."

__

Oh, god Kurt. What happened? It couldn't have been me could it? They were all looking at me rather oddly now, and I realised I had been staring at them in shock.

"What are you looking so surprised about?" Kitty muttered. 

"I didn't do it, I haven't been in school for two days. I would never do anything like that to Kurt, I promised him that." I replied pleading them to believe me. I lowered my voice "Jean you're a telepath, read my mind, I'm telling the truth." 

She was looking at me with suspicion now, but the hostility was not so evident. _I've got that strange feeling again, like fingers crawling inside my mind. _After a few seconds they became stronger, and as they did so, I saw the look of Jean's face turn from suspicion to surprise. 

"She's telling the truth, she's got no memory of ever doing it, not even a trace."

"Jean, either Kurt's mind or Amanda's must be wrong, are you sure you haven't made a mistake," Scott said. I could tell he wasn't entirely convinced himself.

"Scott, I don't think so, we should probably get the professor to check, but I think they are both right, at least they believe they are."

"Well there can't be two me's running around can there, " I said. _That would just be freaky. _

I saw a look of shocked horror and realisation appear on all four of their faces at once. 

"Mystique," they all said in unison. 

"Why?" Said Evan. "What could she possibly gain from splitting up Kurt and Amanda." 

"I don't know, but we'd better tell the others fast," said Scott. "Jean contact Kurt and tell him what's happened." 

"I've already tried, I can't find him. With all these people around it's hard to focus on one mind, if it isn't focused on me."

"Alright then, you tell the professor, and Kitty go find Kurt."

__

What is happening? I felt rather overwhelmed by what being said, having no idea of what they were talking about. I desperately tried to get a word in but was interrupted by Evan. 

"I guess, we owe you an apology." He said. 

"It's OK, but I'm obviously missing something. Who is Mystique?" _This week is getting stranger, with every day that goes past._

"She's a shape-shifter, but we haven't seen her for a while. It seems she's back, although what she wants will probably remain a mystery for the moment," Scott explained. 

"Look, do you mind if I visit the institute this evening. I'd like to talk to Kurt. I can't imagine what's going through his head at the moment." _He thinks I called him one of the things he fears most, what would I be thinking. _

"Sure, meet me at the front of school, I can give you a lift there."

"Thanks. Oh and Scott one more thing, is this Mystique somehow connected to the military. First soldiers attack the mansion, then this women tells Kurt to get out."

"No, she isn't, at least I don't think so. The professor might know, we should ask him. I wouldn't worry its probably just a coincidence." _He didn't sound all that convinced about that last part though. I wonder if there's more going on than there seems. _


End file.
